A grandfather from England's northwest has captured and killed a rat so large that when he tried to lift it with the oar of his boat the paddle snapped under the creature's weight.
Brian Wilson killed the mega rodent with a piece of wood after it was spotted by his granddaughter's boyfriend near Consett in County Durham,
Sky News reports.
"I came running around the corner. I managed to grab some wood on the way," Mr Wilson said.
"It wasn't very fast because it was that big at the back end I thought it was due to drop young ones, so I managed to kill it there and then."
Mr Wilson said he had never seen a rat so large in his life.
When he tried to scoop up the rodent with the paddle of his nearby boat the oar broke.
Mr Wilson said he left the rat's body where it was killed but when word began to spread that a “giant rat” had been slayed the grandfather decided to incinerate the rodent.
Some observers have said the animal is a copyu, also known as a river rat.
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